Abstract of the accomplished photographic work
For over a century, the “Erbgericht” guesthouse near Dresden has served as a local meeting place, run by one family since 1898. It has witnessed five political eras, from the German Empire to today’s Federal Republic. I feel both at home and alienated in this space, which has fascinated me since childhood. Its labyrinth of rooms holds generations of memories—yet these emerge not from the space itself but through personal projections.
Using colored flash gels and an anolog large-format camera, I scanned the interior, letting shadows shape each image. Shadows duplicate, obscure, and deconstruct their sources, much like memory itself. In the flash’s split second, new spaces emerge, distorting functional reality. I explore the dissolution of space and the tension between real places and their projected images. Familiar structures are transfigured, time & space dissolve, and, still, small cracks in the plaster and material traces hint at an atmosphere of both fascination and estrangement.
Description of the project you intend to pursue through the Prize
Inspired by the GDR model set “Der kleine Großblock-Baumeister”, my work “Architekton” (working title) reimagines standardized architecture through play. Designed in the 1950s to teach children about prefabricated housing, the set reflects Soviet ideals—functional, orderly, uniform. Rediscovering it years later, I questioned its rigid designs.
I now construct impossible models, assembling pieces in ways that defy logic and stability through photographic multi-exposures and light experiments. In front of my large-format camera, they dissolve into futuristic forms. The resulting images challenge norms, opening spaces for imagination. Referencing utopian architecture, Architekton explores the socio-political potential of flexible structures in today’s urban landscapes. The project may take shape as a book, merging past and future visions of architecture while incorporating historical references that shaped its development.